He blamed the rift after Tottenham and Arsenal
Victor Geocres received praise from Vincent Kompany despite Coventry losing to Burnley. Mikel Arteta has been blamed for a crowd scandal at the Tottenham Stadium and Antonio Conte is trailing the title run.
Here are the headlines for today’s English football news.
Weekend Conversation: Arteta blamed a spectator kick
England are mainly talking about the spectator who kicked Aaron Ramsdale on Sunday night. The Arsenal goalkeeper then admitted that he had two heated exchanges with the Tottenham fans during the match, but that deteriorated in the closing seconds.
Most of them, of course, place the blame on the individual fan, whose actions have been condemned by Tottenham, but Richard Keys is in the headlines for entirely different reasons. The former Sky presenter, now Bein Sports, is well known in the country and has chosen to direct his criticism at Mikel Arteta.
Keys believes the Arsenal manager bears responsibility for the incident.
“My fear is, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, that the man in the middle (Arteta) is the one who has to take most of the blame for his injured touchline behavior that upsets people,” Keys said, according to the Mirror.
– If he doesn’t act, it’s likely that others on his team won’t either.
Keys points above all to the fact that Ramsdell was teasing the crowd in this instance. Mikel Arteta came under some criticism after Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle for being too hot on the touchline.
Weekend praise: Kompany praises Gyökeres
Burnley move five points clear at the top of the Championship table after a 1-0 win over Coventry at the weekend. Afterwards, rival coach Vincent Kompany praised Victor Giocres, whose club had shown interest in signing the Swede.
– He showed everything he is, says Kompany according to the Daily Mail.
– We have a defense line that is usually very aggressive and has the ability to win the ball back quickly, but with it it takes two, three or four tries.
Southampton are also said to have Geocres on their radar.
Weekend condition: Good weekend for Arsenal
Arsenal have now beaten Tottenham in both league matches this season for the first time since 2013/14. The last time The Gunners won away to their local rivals, Mikel Arteta was in the starting line-up.
Man City still hold the record for most points scored after 18 league matches (52, 2017/18 season). But Arsenal aren’t far behind with 47, which is fifth in Premier League history.
Quote of the week: Conte tracks the title race
“I think with Manchester City they are the only two teams who will win the Premier League title this season,” Antonio Conte told Sky Sports after Tottenham lost 2-0, in an apparent reference to Arsenal.
This Swedish weekend meeting: Chelsea got an important point
More than 40,000 people flocked to the UAE on Sunday to watch Arsenal’s match against Chelsea in the Women’s Football League. There were four Swedes from the start, Stina Plakstenius and Lena Hurtig at Arsenal and Magdalena Ericsson and Zysira Mosović in the away team.
The match finished 1-1 after a late equalizer from Chelsea’s Sam Kerr.
We were the better team and created more chances. Normally, we would probably defend that lead, says Arsenal’s Swedish coach Jonas Edvall, according to The Athletic.
Arsenal are three points behind their local rivals in the Women’s Football League table.
The complete hit of the weekend: Champ Isaac – Silva rages
“Substitute Isaac’s late goal hits Fulham on the nose after penalty nightmare,” reads the dramatic headline in the Daily Mail. Alexander Isaacs became a big hero for Newcastle after coming up late in the 89th minute of the game.
Fulham manager Marco Silva was less enthusiastic. The Portuguese believes that his team should have been awarded a penalty kick and the opponent had sent off a man. Not the one that Aleksandar Mitrovic playfully scored, but was disqualified because he slipped at the moment of the shot.
– It’s hard to understand how the judges couldn’t see it (the penalty). More difficult to comprehend, however, is the inability of VAR to see the first penalty. Silva says: It should be a penalty kick and a red card for the player.
Andreas (Pereira) is almost out and pulled by Dan Byrne. It’s a clear penalty and a red card.